Following its recent successful Shorelines Arts Festival, the  Portumna Arts Group is now hosting a monthly Friday live concert  at Christ Church, with  the Shorelines Steeple Sessions.

These will kick off on Friday next, October 4, with Evelyn & Dec, who are new to Portumna, but who are both well-established musicians.

Guitarist, singer, producer and songwriter Declan Sinnott has worked with some of the major names in Irish music including Christy Moore, Mary Black, Sinead Lohan and John Spillane. He was a founding member of the influential bands, Horslips and Moving Hearts.

Evelyn Kallansee, who now lives in Kerry, was born on the Caribbean island of Curaçao and had a music career in the Netherlands before moving to Ireland.

She has gone from singing in Les Misérables to performing in acid jazz bands and everything in between.

Evelyn and Declan started working together in the winter of 2020, in Covid days. The eventual outcome of this was an album, Made for Jo, which was released last February and named RTÉ’s album of the week.

The two will perform songs from that, as well as some of Declan’s compositions and offer new takes on old songs.

Their concert on Friday, October 4, starts at 8.30pm.

The Steeple Sessions will run monthly until February and will feature familiar Shorelines faces like The Henry Girls, the melodic voice of Jack O’Rourke and Galway’s own Whileaways, who will be in concert on Friday, November 22.

To book tickets, go to www.tickettailor.com/events/shorelinesartsfestival/1398011.

Pictured: Declan Sinnott and Evelyn Kallansee, aka Evelyn & Dec, will kick off the series.